The Sword Room

The world mourns the recent loss of Michael Jackson, a man who, despite his many talents as an entertainer, took none of his fame and fortune with him to the grave. But did you ever stop to consider that Michael Jackson’s eternal soul still lives on after the laying aside of his earthly body? At this moment he is conscious somewhere–but where? “It is appointed to men to die once, but after this the judgment” Hebrews 9:27.

With a name like The Swordroom: Home of the Spiritual Fight Club there is always the chance of someone missing the point. All too often Christians waste time and energy fighting one another instead of their real spiritual enemies–the world, the flesh, and the devil. Such mis-identification is a product of sin and has its biblical roots in the story of Cain and Abel. When God rejected Cain’s offering he became enraged at his brother Abel and sought to kill him. The Lord warned Cain that the real enemy, sin, lurked in the shadows. Sin wanted to dominate him but he must defeat it. Cain refused to listen because in his sin-warped mind he wrongly identified his brother as the enemy to be conquered. And thus Cain lured Abel into the field and performed the first act of murder in human history. How sad that many modern Christians, who claim with their lips to love Jesus, deny that profession in practice when they refuse to love their brethren and instead choose the foolish path of jealousy, judgmentalism, and outright attack. Rest assured that in the Swordroom we will strive to speak the truth in love. May it be our desire to stand together and fight the good fight. To do this we must love God and love our brothers and sisters in Christ. Without this kind of love we are nothing. In other words, know your enemy!

Exegesis comes from two Greek words meaning “to lead out.” Exegesis is the process whereby we extract the meaning intended by the writer from the biblical text. In other words, to do exegesis is to let the Scripture take you where it will instead of reading your own culturally influenced opinions back into the text. I have heard it said that there are two Bibles: the one God inspired and the one we invent. But the Bible is not an obscure book that can only be understood by the Ph.D scholar. It was written by common men for the common man. With a little effort anyone can come to a basic understanding of the content of the Word of God. Therefore let us exegete the Scripture accurately and not import meanings foreign to the text.